Before Departure

At this moment, Sherlock had no idea that Black Egg had forcibly stuffed him into the so-called Avengers plan. The instant the door closed, Sherlock's expression turned unpleasant.

The reason was simple: his peaceful days probably would not last much longer. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. now called itself an official organization, anyone who had watched the movies knew that its full name was "Hydra United Nations Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

Being targeted by S.H.I.E.L.D. meant that he had also been exposed to Hydra's eyes.

That was precisely why Sherlock had agreed to Coulson's plan to rescue Tony.

There was no other reason. Sherlock needed to display his strength, to make Hydra afraid—or at least make them consider the price of making a move against him. Only then could Sherlock continue living his quiet little life.

As it happened, rescuing Tony was the perfect opportunity. The risk was low, the reward was high, and Sherlock had absolutely no reason to refuse.

Of course, displaying his strength was one thing, but Sherlock had no intention of exposing what should not be exposed. After all, there was a difference between an ordinary "mage" and an "alchemist" capable of granting ordinary people supernatural power—or allowing them to borrow it—in bulk.

Anyone with a functioning brain could figure out which of the two would be more valuable to Hydra.

Capitalists dared to trample over everything for a profit of three hundred percent. Surely he could not pray that Hydra's upper ranks had more of a conscience than capitalists did, could he?

Honestly, if he had not happened to repair the Spear of Longinus, and if the Spear of Longinus had not happened to be able to disguise his Alchemy as magic, Sherlock would never have taken on the matter of rescuing Tony.

As for whether Sherlock had wanted to test out and play with the first divine artifact he had ever acquired in his life out of excitement, Sherlock could only say that yes, he had—but it was definitely not the main reason.

The more Sherlock thought about it, the more he felt that Ancient One, that old immortal bastard, had truly set him up!

After all, the root of all this was the damaged divine artifact Ancient One had given him after observing him for five years—the Holy Lance of Longinus.

The thought of himself, a baby only a few hundred months old, being deceived by an old immortal bastard several hundred years old made Sherlock want to run to Kamar-Taj and argue face-to-face with Ancient One.

Of course, that was merely an impulse. If he actually went, it would basically be like Quanxing challenging the Celestial Master—courting death.

While Sherlock was thinking about how exactly he should rescue Tony, John Wick pushed open Sherlock's front door and walked in with Helen. When Helen saw Sherlock sitting beside the dining table, staring silently at the news, she asked him worriedly.

"Sherlock, what happened? Who were those men in black?"

Hearing Helen's words, Sherlock finally realized that John Wick and Helen had arrived. Sensing the concern in the couple's eyes, Sherlock did not intend to hide anything and frankly explained what had just happened to John Wick and Helen.

John Wick was fine. As an assassin, he knew the dark side of this world that ordinary people never came into contact with all too well. But Helen was an ordinary person, and after hearing Sherlock's concerns and learning about S.H.I.E.L.D., she could not help but start cursing.

Especially after hearing that Coulson had intentionally or unintentionally tried to use Doro to threaten Sherlock, Helen became like a rampaging lioness. No one would have doubted that if Coulson had dared return at that moment, Helen would have rushed him and torn him apart with her bare hands.

Unlike Helen's motherly fury, John Wick was far calmer. After learning that the opening left behind because Sherlock had helped him back then had caused this trouble, John Wick felt somewhat ashamed. Lowering his head, he said to Sherlock.

"Sorry, Sherlock. I brought you trouble."

Listening to John Wick's slightly subdued voice, Sherlock merely waved a hand calmly.

"Come on, John. I actually expected this day would come eventually. I just didn't expect it to come so quickly."

Sherlock was not deceiving John Wick with those words. After all, having transmigrated into the Marvel Universe and gained the power of Alchemy, unless Sherlock had never used that power since arriving here, being exposed was only a matter of time.

What was more, if everything truly had been caused by the divine artifact Ancient One had given him, just as Sherlock suspected, then from the perspective of the future, this should have been the optimal solution Ancient One could see.

Although Sherlock acted as though he did not care, John Wick did not see it that way. Especially after learning that this matter involved him as well, John Wick naturally could not simply stand by as a spectator.

Not caring that Sherlock had just called him John Wick, John Wick lowered his head and pondered for a long while before suddenly raising it to look at Sherlock, as though he had made up his mind.

"I'll go to the Middle East with you, Sherlock. We may not have made a blood pact or anything back then, but I owe you this!"

Hearing John Wick's words, Sherlock nearly rolled his eyes into the sky. His gaze toward John Wick was filled with disdain, and after quite a while, Sherlock finally said.

"Come on. The entire assassin world is worried that you won't show up, and worried that you'll show up again. If you really go with me to the Middle East and get dragged into this mess, John, it'll be hard for you to get out again.

"Besides, an Elder of the High Table is most likely somewhere in a desert in the Middle East. You're a living legend. If you appear in the Middle East, in the desert, even if it has nothing to do with the Continental Hotel, it will inevitably arouse suspicion.

"You know far better than I do how troublesome a Continental Hotel kill order can be."

As Sherlock spoke, his gaze swept over Doro and Helen, who was holding Doro. Though he did not say it outright, his meaning could not have been clearer.

He did not agree to John Wick accompanying him, because compared to whatever debt or favor existed between them, Sherlock believed John Wick should care more about Helen, more about the people around him, and more about the person he loved.

Besides, they were merely a group of terrorists. Sherlock might have been somewhat worried before, but now that he possessed a divine artifact, no matter how many came, they would only be delivering themselves to their deaths. There was no need to make such a big deal out of it.

Yet what Sherlock had never expected was that the person who objected most fiercely to his words was not John Wick, but Helen, the ordinary person!

"No, Sherlock. As friends, no matter what happens, we should support each other. And this happened because of John in the first place! So Sherlock, no matter what, please do not refuse John."